Cue Exposure Therapy For Porn Addiction (My Personal Example)

Are you trying to quit porn right now?

Ok great, let me ask you this, have you ever relapsed? 

Well, you’re not alone because most people relapse, many times, over and over again.

So how do we stop relapsing to porn? 

Well today I will share a tool that can be very powerful for this. It’s called cue exposure therapy.

Cue exposure therapy is a form of addiction therapy where we don’t try to avoid triggers, but instead train to respond in an alternative way, when exposed to them. 

It can be done in several different ways. And today I’m going to share an example of what cue exposure therapy for porn addiction could look like.

Cue exposure therapy for porn addiction

Alright, as you know there are hundreds of tools and tricks on how to stop relapsing when trying to quit porn.

Many of them are good, but if  you keep struggling even after trying some of them, then you should keep trying new stuff until you find something that works better for you.

Because after all, if you keep doing what you’ve always done, you keep getting what you’ve always got..

So, today we are going to talk about something that is called “Cue exposure therapy” and you should know that this is something that is backed by science and can be really effective for a lot of people.

The porn relapse cycle....

First we have to take a look at the relapse cycle, stay with me here.

First we have a cue or a trigger , they mean the same thing here,  followed by the routine, (this is you acting out, doing the thing you are addicted to) followed by the reward and followed by regret…

This is how all relapses start, and that goes for all addictions, whether it be alcohol, fapping, gambling, or any addiction

It starts with a trigger that sets off the whole relapse cycle. Now depending on the addiction  the trigger can be pretty much anything, like for example a picture, a sound, a certain time of the day, an emotion or even another person. 

The importance of understanding how triggers work....

Let’s take an example. John is a sober alcoholic. He does not drink anymore, but when he did he always stopped by a bar on his way home from work. Outside of that bar is a plastic clown that plays a few notes on a toy trumpet.

Now, because John has been drinking beer in that bar hundreds of times, and those trumpet notes always preceded his enjoyment. Those notes have now become a strong trigger for John. 

So, Whenever he hears those exact notes, he gets hit by strong cravings for beer. So in order to not relapse he now takes another route when he’s walking home from work. 

Ok, so now you know what a trigger is. It is something that always precedes the addiction and It is what most often starts off the whole relapse. 

This is of course because it has been programmed into us. by repeating the same thing, (vis cirkeln)  literally hundreds of times. “trigger - acting out - trigger-acting out, trigger acting out.

The relapse happens on autopilot....

So now whenever we get hit by a trigger we automatically act out, without us even thinking about it. We have learned it so well that it is now wired into your brain. 

This is why many suggest that we should avoid triggers in order to stay away from relapses. And that’s one way to go about it and It’s not a bad way, HOWEVER, we can reprogram us by breaking the cycle.

And here is where the cue exposure therapy enters the picture.  

So, what does that mean?

Well listen to this, it means that you deliberately expose yourself to a trigger, but then you change the routine. And you do it over and over again, putting in a lot of reps, reps reps, reprogramming yourself. 

Check this out...

For a person trying to quit using porn there can be many different cues, like for example...

• Feeling sad and lonely while sitting in front of the laptop
• A popup ad with a hot chick in it
• A certain time of the day
• A booty shaking thumbnail on YouTube
• A certain sound
• Or even a certain time of the day (it's afternoon and you're coming home from work etc.)

So let’s say you are sitting in front of your computer right now, and I’m sure many of you are because you are watching this YouYube clip.

Using cue exposure to stop relapsing to porn....

So here is one example how to do cue exposure…

Type in the name of your favorite adult movie star into your search engine and….hit enter.

Ok so now google presents you with a lot of websites you can choose to go to. You have now activated a strong trigger, a big part of you really wants to click on one of those suggestions, but you do not stop here.

And here is where you have to be super alert...you click on one of the suggestions and an adult site opens up. 

Now, as soon as you see some bear skin on the screen, in whatever form, you immediately turn your head and put your hand in front of the screen, while completely ignoring everything behind and around the hand and then you close the page.

It should take max one second and you do not peek or look at the screen. 

Congratulations!

You just did one rep of retraining yourself.

You were exposed to a very strong trigger, but then you did another routine instead of acting out.

This was one rep and for every rep you are doing this, you are literally training your brain to stop relapsing. However, you have to do several reps in a row and for many days to really stack up on those anti relapse reps. 

Try to get about five reps in one sitting. 

Keep putting in 'anti relapse' reps....

You see, you are rewiring the computer in your head here and you really need a lot of those anti reps to do so. 

Also, it helps to have some kind of personal phrase you are saying to yourself right at the moment when you shut down the trigger page.

For example, you put your hand in front of the screen and  you say out loud, "You won’t get me, cause I’m choosing to be free”, while you shut down the website.

Use whatever phrase you want, something that reminds you of why you want to quit watching porn. For example: "No more pain, let’s get alpha or whatever…" **

** Note: It has been more than 3.5 years since I created this video. I have since then modified this, and made it better in several ways. However, despite that I chose to include the video on this new website (website created 3.5 years later), as the core principle presented in this old video is still relevant and, hopefully, explained in at least a somewhat helpful way :)

Learn to love the new reward...

Now the reward you get here is that you get to change the regret with a feeling of being strong and proud. And you can even give yourself more reward if you like, a good dinner right after the training session  or something like that.

What happens here is, after a few days of doing this training, you will find that whenever you get hit by a trigger that you didn’t do to yourself, that new routine will kick in automatically - and you’ll find yourself immediately looking away and getting rid of the trigger… 

…or getting away from it. 

You have literally trained yourself how to NOT relapse. 

The beauty of the cue exposure therapy for porn addiction....

This is the beauty of the cue exposure therapy because instead of always being at risk for relapses when you are surprised by a trigger somewhere, you have literally programmed yourself to respond in a different way…

…so the trigger won’t get you!

In a way this is much more effective than trying to overcome addictions by avoiding triggers because that will always leave you vulnerable to them.

Now, this technique can be done with almost any trigger and any addiction, you just have to be creative and find smart ways of exposing yourself to the triggers…and then…you swap the addiction routing for something else. 

Feeling stuck? You can transform your life in 13 weeks OR LESS by >>Downloading<< my FREE guide below...

Here’s something important; I do not recommend you doing this if you already are on a long streak, because the risk of relapse is high in the beginning.

Final warning about cue exposure for NoFap:

Only try this if you recently relapsed and you want to get going again and you want to try something new. And also, never ever do the cue exposure training when you are tired, hungry, sad or emotionally upset because that will probably make you just relapse right away instead of shutting down that website.

I really mean this, only get your reps in when you are well rested and feel strong.

You should always approach the cue training from a position of strength because yes, it is possible to relapse doing it. So again, do not do it if you are already on a good streak.

Ok,  I hope you found it informative, and remember this was just one nofap anti relapse tool and I will be back with a lot more of them, so consider subscribing and also press the little bell icon there right beside the subscribe button

-Scandinavian Bob-

Related posts:

• How to stop relapsing to porn when having urges
• Reprogram your mind to stop watching dirty videos forever